Sailors skiers finish strong

Dixson brings home Skimeister award

The Steamboat Springs High School Alpine and Nordic ski teams capped a strong showing at the state skiing championships Friday with top-five overall finishes for the boys and girls. But the best news to come out of the competition was for an individual Steamboat athlete.

The Sailors boys finished third as a team with 555 overall points, just one point behind second-place Middle Park. Aspen was first with 629 points. The overall team finishes combined points earned in the Alpine (slalom and giant slalom) and Nordic (classic and skate) events.

The Steamboat girls finished fifth overall, with 544 points. Middle Park was first, Vail was second, and Nederland was third.

Perhaps the most impressive result from the championships came Friday night when Steamboat's Sarah Dixson was named Skimeister. The coveted award goes to the state skier with the most combined points in Alpine and Nordic events. The season-long competition requires athletes to compete in all four events - slalom, giant slalom, classic and skate skiing.

Dixson was tied for first with Nederland's Mariah Colton, but Dixson was awarded the Skimeister trophy through a tiebreaker system.

"It's amazing," Steamboat ski coach Chrissy Lynch said. "She just worked so hard this year for that. She pulled it off. It's awesome."

Cassady Daily finished fourth in the Skimeister standings on the girls side, and Jasper Gantick was seventh on the boys side.

Four Sailors girls competed in Friday's skate event. Dixson was 23rd, Daily was 25th, Liza Stout was 29th, and Katherine Lynch was 30th.

On the boys side, Michael Ward was eighth, Alex Gantick was 28th, Gantick was 36th, and Jack Burger was 41st.

Six Sailors finished in the top 15 in Friday's giant slalom event. For the boys, Sam Glaisher captured fourth with a combined time of 1:57.64. Right on Glaisher's heels was teammate Connor Bernard, who finished fifth in 1:58.61. Sailor Ben Paley - racing on Alpine skis for the first time all season - finished ninth in 2:01.13. Mark Dennis was 14th in a time of 2:02.55. Steamboat's Hunter Willis was 24th, Connor Herbison finished 43rd, Alec Schaffer was 44th, Jasper Gantick was 66th, Daniel Wright finished 68th, and Eric Samuelson was 70th. Matthew Dennis did not finish.

Julia Cooper led the Sailors girls with a sixth-place finish Friday. Her two-run time was 2:03.43. Teammate Hanna Berglund was seventh in 2:03.77. Jamie Gay finished 18th in a time of 2:06.66. Other Steamboat finishers included Daily in 21st place, Sarah Dixson in 26th, Linnea Dixson in 27th, Martha Anderson in 34th, Mallory Hoots in 41st and Lorin Paley in 69th.